Effect of Testing Factors on Rietveld Quantitative Analysis of Cement-Matrix Materials

Abstract

For cement-matrix materials, the microstructure plays a vital important role in the research. Recently, quantitative phase analysis of cementitious materials can be performed using the Rietveld method by fitting the calculated X-ray diffraction (XRD) profile with the observed one. The aim of this paper is to further perform the quantitative analysis by the Rietveld method and discuss the influence of testing factors on the Rietveld quantitative phase analysis. The factors included the collection range of pattern, step size and the scan time of per step. In this study, the chemical composition of the samples was determined by X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometry. And their phase composition was calculated by X-ray powder diffraction and Rietveld analysis. The results showed that the collection range of pattern depended on the tested materials , and the scanning range should include the main diffraction peak of the sample. Smaller step size and longer scan time of each step made the fitting factor smaller, also the calculated pattern coincided with the measured pattern, better enhance the precision of the analyses.